Even when they were “friends,” on the Comedy Central circuit, Donald Trump and Snoop Dogg had a relationship characterized by a crude and ribald humor. Years before Trump became president of the United States, one of his highest aspirations was to be the subject of a Comedy Central roast. He got his wish in 2011. Calvin Broadus, aka Snoop Dogg, was one of the celebrities who mocked Trump mercilessly in ways that had the show’s censors working overtime. Their unlikely “bromance” began the year before on “Larry King Live” when Trump told King that the rapper was a “caring, compassionate, loving guy.” In those days, rappers, including Snoop Dogg, used Trump’s name in their rap lyrics as shorthand for a wealthy, untouchable person. Trump was flattered beyond words to be considered “street level” enough to be thought of as wealth personified.
Even when they were “friends,” on the Comedy Central circuit, Donald Trump and Snoop Dogg had a relationship characterized by a crude and ribald humor. Years before Trump became president of the United States, one of his highest aspirations was to be the subject of a Comedy Central roast. He got his wish in 2011. Calvin Broadus, aka Snoop Dogg, was one of the celebrities who mocked Trump mercilessly in ways that had the show’s censors working overtime. Their unlikely “bromance” began the year before on “Larry King Live” when Trump told King that the rapper was a “caring, compassionate, loving guy.” In those days, rappers, including Snoop Dogg, used Trump’s name in their rap lyrics as shorthand for a wealthy, untouchable person. Trump was flattered beyond words to be considered “street level” enough to be thought of as wealth personified.
That all changed when Trump announced his run for president in 2015. Suddenly, the warmth and respect rappers once bestowed upon Trump gave way to lyrics mocking the developer as a fraud and a racist.
Even Snoop Dogg, who was arguably closer to Trump than most rappers, doubled down on his former friend with some nasty invective. Their estrangement resulted in a recently released Snoop Dogg video in which a clownish approximation of Trump has a fake gun pointed at his head. The word “bang” shoots out the gun barrel. As assassination fantasies go, it isn’t subtle — or funny.
Predictably, Trump went after the rapper on Twitter. He denounced Snoop Dogg’s “failing career” and wondered aloud whether the rapper would’ve gotten jail time for threatening former President Barack Obama in a video.
Snoop Dogg’s stunt is tasteless and ill-considered. It encourages a disrespectful and possibly homicidal attitude toward the president and his office. Too many presidents, politicians and community leaders have been murdered in the past 100 years not to take even a clownish assassination seriously.
— Pittsburgh Post-Gazette